TCOG to offer household hazardous waste collection event in Sherman
April 11, 2022
Announcement: US Department of Labor to Offer Virtual Prevailing Wage Seminars
April 20, 2022
TCOG to offer household hazardous waste collection event in Sherman
April 11, 2022
Announcement: US Department of Labor to Offer Virtual Prevailing Wage Seminars
April 20, 2022

4. Regional Assessment

Regional Top 5 Basic Needs

  1. Affordable Housing
  2. Utilities (electricity, gas, telephone, water, heating)
  3. Hunger – Food Insecurity
  4. Transportation
  5. Medical/Mental Health
  6. Childcare/Early Childhood Education (although not always a top 5)

Source: Texoma 2022-2025 Community Needs Assessment

All of the early childhood development centers in the Texoma Region currently have a waiting list. Texoma Workforce Solutions offers childcare assistance, but also has a waiting list. A lack of reliable child care options is one factor that makes it more difficult for parents to work.

(Source: Center for American Progress, (form American Progress.org
Early Childhood Report 2020).

Community Strengths and Weaknesses

The Texoma community, especially Grayson and Fannin counties, is already aware of mental health needs. The Texoma Health Foundation has begun a drive to understand and address mental health issues, with widespread support from education, government, social help agencies and the medical community. Several agencies, such as TCOG, school districts, and industry have adopted the “Me Too” program, making it acceptable for people to talk more openly about mental health issues. However, there are not enough mental health care providers in the region to meet the needs, especially the needs of children. In a recent Texoma Behavioral Health Leadership Team needs assessment, common themes included:

  • A chronic lack of providers, although this appears more significant in Fannin County, where there is a lack of individual clinicians, mental health provider organizations, and pediatricians; and
  • A need to continue to focus on anti-stigma efforts to improve service engagement for children, youth, and their families

Several cities in the region, along with economic development corporations, are addressing the shortage of safe, affordable housing, with a variety of strategies to build more safe and affordable housing. Progress has been slow due to a lack of support from some communities and a shortage of skilled workers. Lack of employment and low wages contribute to families’ inability to find affordable, or workforce, housing.

An increase in home prices in newer areas while good for the communities overall, can also be problematic. Utility assistance remains an issue, with TCOG providing the major assistance, region wide, for this need. Unfortunately, funding is limited and not all needs can be met. This is one area that needs much more attention region-wide. The need for utility assistance is a condition of poverty, and along with rent assistance, is related to affordable housing.

Source: Texoma Behavioral Health Needs Assessment, Dec 2020.

Barriers to Addressing Identified Needs

Most major barriers to addressing the identified needs have not changed since the previous assessment. They are:

  • Lack of funding, especially to meet housing, utility and medical needs
  • The continued slow rebuilding of TAPS, with no adequate structural or functional replacement(s)
  • Food deserts in existence for the foreseeable future; “dollar” and convenience stores building in high-poverty areas of towns (areas of poverty)
  • A lack of early childhood educational opportunities in the region, especially in Fannin and Cooke counties
  • The continued lack of mental healthcare practitioners and facilities, especially in Fannin and Cooke Counties
  • The continued concentration of the poor in the “areas of poverty”
  • The continued clear overlap of sex, educational attainment, and race/ ethnicity
  • The lack of programs to address the very clear early childhood poverty issues